Belfast woman Caroline Moreland, a Catholic mother of three, was abducted and murdered by the IRA in July 1994 after being labelled an informer. The body of the 34-year-old was found near Rosslea, Co Fermanagh.

Her daughter Shauna said she blames both the IRA and the intelligence services. She said she wants to know if Mr McGuinness was on the IRA Army Council at the time of the death and “did you give the order for my mum’s death”.

Senior IRA sources, the BBC reported, said it is almost certain that one of those who accused Mrs Moreland of being an informer was British agent Freddie Scappaticci - codenamed ‘Stakeknife’.

In a Sinn Fein statement, the party said “Martin McGuinness is more than willing to meet with Shauna Moorland”.

They added: “Mr McGuinness has already outlined to the Spotlight programme that it is certainly not the case that he was on the IRA army council.

“The killing of Caroline Moreland, like the deaths of all victims of the conflict, was an absolute tragedy, particularly for her young family.”

The statement added that Sinn Féin “will continue to work to achieve the implementation of the truth recovery mechanisms agreed at Stormont House in an effort to provide families with maximum disclosure and information about the deaths of their loved ones”.

Freddie Scappaticci

The Spotlight programme played final recordings made by Ms Moreland, under interrogation, before she was shot dead.

Ms Moreland can be heard “confessing” to having been an informer.

Just before the ceasefires of 1994, she came under the suspicion of the IRA, was kidnapped, held for two weeks, and shot dead.

In the recording her interrogators made, she described how she was persuaded by British intelligence to pass on information.

Caroline Moreland’s daughter, Shauna, said she wants to know why, if her mother was an informer, the state did not intervene to save her.

She said she believes the state and the IRA are equally responsible for her mother’s murder.

She added: “One made the bullet and one fired it. I would like answers. I want to know first and foremost if she was an informant why her handlers didn’t step in and protect her?.

“She was missing for 15 days, it had to set off alarm bells, people had to have known about it. She could have been brought back.”

Ms Moreland said a few years ago two IRA men visited her and told her “it was basically just it was a war and that’s what happens”.

She added: “I don’t really remember much of it to be honest. They said my mummy was known and respected, but if you informed that was the consequence of it.”

His lawyers lost a court challenge hours before Tuesday’s transmission.

In the recording of Caroline Moreland before she was murdered, she said she was pressurised into becoming a British informant and tells others they will not be harmed if they tell the IRA that the British authorities have tried to recruit them as spies.

The victim was heard to say: “I really regret getting caught up with these people and I really regret what I’ve done.

“They told me that I would go away for at least 25 years and that my children would be taken off me and put into the care of social services. It was at this point that I agreed to work for them.

“I wish that I’d been caught sooner but I really would advise anybody else that is in this situation to come forward and tell, and not to listen to the things they tell you, the fear that they put into you about what’s going to happen to you. Just come forward and tell what you’re doing.”

The last sentence the victim is heard to say is: “No harm will come to you and you’ll be helped.”

Ms Moreland said she would continue to search for answers.

“I’m confident that I’ll keep going until I hit the end of the road and can go no further,” she said.

“Ultimately I just want to be able to give my mummy a voice and turn her back into Caroline Moreland, my mummy, and not Caroline Moreland, the IRA informant.”

The Ministry of Defence said in a statement that collusion in murder was never acceptable and should be investigated.

The PSNI said they cannot comment as the case is being investigated by the Office of the Police Ombudsman.

They acknowledged the suffering of families, but said intelligence had saved lives.

The ombudsman is investigating up to 20 murders of alleged informers by the IRA - and Stakeknife’s alleged role in them.